Goodsprings Nevada !

Photo's and History Courtesy of Norman Chipps, Bowie, Md !

Las Vegas was still 20 years away from being a place when the Clark County mining town of Goodsprings, some 34 miles southwest, was founded.
There was a spring but the quality of the water, for better or worse had nothing to do with the name.

It was the Silver discoveries in 1861 by Joseph Good and a few other prospectors from the North San Juan, Nevada County, California, that led to the
Colorado Mining District being formed. And the 1868 Silver-lead discoveries in and around where Goodsprings is today led to the townsite being named after
Joseph Good in 1886.

The Keystone gold mine was discovered in 1892 and within a year, there were 200 people in the Goodsprings area. From then until 1952, what is still known as the Yellow Pine mining District earned over $31 million from lead, gold and most important during two wars, 85 million pounds of zinc.

There were maybe 50 fewer people in Goodsprings during the 1920's, but they lived better. The town's luxurious, 20-room Fayle Hotel was better than anything
Las Vegas yet had to offer, so folks drove out to Goodsprings on a summer Sunday afternoon both to dine in the Fayle's sumptuous restaurant and to watch
And sometimes enter the car races staged on the nearby dry lakes. For other tastes, Goodsprings offered its Pioneer Saloon & Poker Parlor, a favorite of the locals
Even today, this was once called the " restricted district ". And then there was always Sam Yount who staged minstrel shows at his general store quit often.

Today maybe half of Goodsprings standing buildings are occupied, mostly being escapees who commute daily to their work in Vegas. Genial Joe Anthony,
A relative newcomer from California, gave up mining to manage the Pioneer and keeps it much like it always has been since 1913 when it was built, dusty,
Rowdy, and fun.
The Fayle Hotel burned down in 1966 and many weed-grown foundations elsewhere indicate the town has shrunk considerably. Local historians are
Vague as to specifics, perhaps because firewood for the remaining stoves is scarce and expensive. There are simply too many people still around for vandals to have done much damage, so one must conclude it was as inside job.

Visitors to Goodsprings should also explore the remains of nearby Sandy, Platina, and Kingston, the latter being just over the border into California. Boss and
Ripley, towns sometimes mentioned in the guidebooks, never were.

Special Note: The Bells of San Angelo was filmed here in 1947 and had several shots of the old mill in background.

Out of the Las Vegas Age newspaper.
This was a photo of the Yellow Pine Mill before it burned, it was later rebuilt, But there is nothing left nowdays.

Speical Thank You!
Fred and Rose from Atlanta checked out my site before taking their vacation this year, 2005. Now that it is over, I got a very nice Thank You from them
and this photo, which I think is awesome. I Thank, Fred and Rose for the e-mail and this photo!